^  JAN  201937 

DARWIN'S  ATTITUDE.  33 


appeals  to  the  highest  and  noblest  in  man  and  if  we  turn  our 
backs  upon  it,  close  our  eyes,  stop  our  ears,  and  sear  our  souls, 
then  it,  in  turn,  leaves  us  and  we  shrivel  in  the  dimension  of  our 
being  and  become  an  atrophied  thing  in  the  Universe. 

By  the  very  same  law  poetry,  music  and  painting  died  in 
him.  He  exclaims :  "I  cannot  endure  to  read  a  line  of  poetry ; 
I  have  tried  lately  to  read  Shakespeare  and  find  it  so  intolerably 
dull  that  it  nauseated  me.  I  have  also  almost  lost  my  taste  for 
pictures  and  music."  Then  he  admits  us  into  the  secret :  "My 
mind  seems  to  have  become  a  kind  of  machine  for  grinding  gen- 
eral laws  out  of  large  collections  of  facts."  This  is  the  penalty 
of  over-absorbtion  in  one  pursuit,  and  that  the  lowest,  and  for- 
getting the  higher  claims  of  the  soul  and  the  demands  of  the 
spiritual  Universe.  Does  Darwin's  agnosticism  annihilate  God, 
quench  the  thirst  of  the  Soul,  destroy  the  need  of  penitence. 
Transform  the  tragedy  of  Calvary  into  a  mocking  riddle,  and 
crush  the  instinct  of  prayer  in  the  heart?  Xo;  no  more  than 
his  indifference  to  the  bard  of  Avon  prove  that  Shakespeare  is 
not  still  the  unique  thinker  and  matchless  poet  of  all  ages. 

Profoundly  conscious  of  the  literary  and  artistic  loss  and  to 
keep  his  soul  from  shriveling  up  intellectually  he  exclaims :  "If 
I  had  to  live  my  life  over  again  I  would  have  made  a  rule  to  read 
some  poetry  and  listen  to  some  music  once  a  week."  There  is 
no  hint  that  he  felt  the  greatest  of  all  losses — the  loss  of  God, 
the  loss  of  the  saving  help  and  ineffable  companionship  of 
Christ. 


THE  SCOTTISH  PSALTER. 

BY  ROBERT  SHIELLS,  NEENAH,  WIS. 

Before  the  Reformation  movement  in  Scotland  assumed  any 
form  of  organization,  or  could  claim  for  itself  anything  like  con- 
certed action,  there  had  been  a  strong  under-current  of  prepara- 
tion, brought  about  by  the  satires  and  songs  which  had  become 
prevalent.  Burlesque  plays  had  been  acted  before  king  and 
court,  and  ironical  ballads  had  been  freely  sung  by  the  common 
people.  All  turned  upon  the  abuses  of  the  Church  and  the  evil 
lives  of  the  greedy  priesthood.  Sir  David  Lyndsay  was  one  of 
the  principal  leaders  in  this  turn  of  thought  and  practice.  His 
own  rank  and  importance,  and  his  intimacy  with  the  king  en- 
abled him  to  escape  the  fate  meted  out  to  less  prominent  distur- 
bers of  the  peace  of  the  church.  The  seed  which  he  sowed  bore 
fruit  duly.  The  rude  ballad  of  the  street  was  polished  into  a 
poetic  utterance  which  caught  the  ear  and  heart  of  the  multi- 
tude. This  in  turn  gave  way  to  devotional  hymns  which  touched 
the  conscience,  and  gave  vent  to  religious  feeling.  Today  these 
utterances  appear  to  us  rude  and  unrefined;  in  their  own  day 
they  were  the  classic  language  and  form  of  expression  pertaining 
to  the  country. 

The  first  collected  group  of  these  songs,  that  we  know  of,  is 
the  "Gude  and  Godlie  Ballades"  of  the  Wedderburn  Brothers 
of  Dundee.  The  earliest  certain  day  of  their  publication  is  1567. 
Some  of  them  must  have  become  common  and  widespread  before 
that  time,  as  James  Wedderburn  fled  for  his  life  to  France  in 
1540.  In  their  completed  form  they  stand  in  three  divisions. 
First,  there  are  the  Ten  Commandments,  the  Creed,  the  Lord's 
Prayer  and  the  warrant  for  the  Sacraments.  All  these  are  set 
forth  in  verse  and  followed  by  various  devotional  songs,  some  of 
which  are  taken  from  Scripture.  Many  of  these  pieces,  in 
altered  forms  of  versification,  are  repeated  in  the  Psalters  of  the 
church  for  nearly  a  century.  The  second  part  consists  of  twenty- 
two  of  the  Psalms  of  David.  Then  come  a  number  of  songs, 
more  or  Less  secular  but  spiritualized  according  to  the  taste  and 
ability  of  the  versifier.    This  was  the  foundation  of  the  system 


THE  SCOTTISH  PSALTER.  35 

of  praise  which  formed  one  of  the  prominent  features  of  the 
Eeformed  Church  in  all  lands.  The  consecrated  priest,  the  un- 
known language  of  the  service  and  the  trained  choir,  were  all 
swept  away.  The  minister  and  reader  were  men  of  the  people, 
set  apart  for  their  work,  it  is  true  on  account  of  their  fitness,  but 
claiming  no  divine  afflatus  nor  apostolic  succession.  The  wor- 
ship was  conducted  so  that  "every  man  heard  them  speak  in  his 
own  tongue  wherein  he  was  born."  The  praise  was  conducted 
according  to  the  closing  words  of  the  Book  of  Psalms,  "Let 
everything  that  hath  breath  praise  the  Lord."  These  were  the 
popular  and  democratic  forms  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  and 
which  constitute  its  leading  features  of  this  day. 

The  Book  of  Common  Order,  which  included  the  Psalter, 
was  evolved  from  Geneva,  where  Calvin,  Knox  and  many  emi- 
nent refugees  found  shelter.  It  is  not  necessary  to  trace  the 
growth  of  the  Psalter  in  every  detail.  The  first  attempt,  in 
1548,  contained  only  nineteen  Psalms,  the  work  of  Thomas 
Sternhold,  an  official  in  the  court  of  Edward  VI ;  and  it  was  fol- 
lowed in  1549  by  an  edition  of  forty-four  Psalms.  Of  these 
thirty-seven  were  versified  by  Sternhold  and  seventeen  by  John 
Hopkins.  Then  came  successive  additions  till  in  1564-65  the 
Scottish  Psalter  contained  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  Psalms. 
The  authorship  of  them  is  as  follows:  Sternhold,  9;  Hopkins, 
37;  Kethe,  25;  Whittingham,  16;  Craig,  15;  Norton,  8;  Pont, 
6;  Pullian,  2;  Marquant,  2.  Printed  at  Edinburgh  under  the 
careful  supervision  of  the  General  Assembly  this  book  also  con- 
tained "The  Forms  of  Prayers  and  Ministrations  of  the  Sacra- 
ments." Continuous  issues  were  sanctioned  and  printed  with 
much  extraneous  matter,  chiefly  in  verse,  and  so  adding  to  the 
authorized  volume  of  church  praise.  In  1577  we  find  the  Creed, 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Ten  Commandments,  a  versified  prayer 
addressed  to  Christ,  the  Lament  of  a  Sinner  and  the  Veni 
Creator — 

Come  Holy  Ghost,  eternal  God, 

Proceeding  from  above, 
Both  from  the  Father  and  the  Son, 

The  God  of  Peace  and  Love. 


36  WISCONSIN  PRESBYTERIAN  REVIEW. 

There  is  also  what  is  styled  a  "Conclusion."  which  is  the  in- 
vocation we  know  as  the  Gloria  Patri,  or.  in  plain  phrase,  a 
doxology.  There  were  speedily  added  thirty-four  doxologies  and 
a  "Collect."  or  short  prayer,  for  each  Psalm;  also  ten  spiritual 
hymns  including  the  Song  of  Moses,  the  Song  of  Simeon,  the 
Magnificat  or  Song  of  the  Virgin  Mary  and  a  lengthy  Song  of 
Thanksgiving  after  the  "Keeeiving  of  the  Lord's  Supper." 

There  is  an  amusing  incident  showing  the  watchfulness  of 
the  General  Assembly  over  the  printers.  In  1568  Thomas  Bas- 
sandyne.  of  Edinburgh,  issued  a  Psalter  which  had  not  been 
closely  examined.  Among  other  additions  he  inserted  a  poem 
entitled  "Welcome  Fortune,*'  which  was  rather  more  of  a  song 
than  a  hymn.  The  church  authorities  swooped  down  upon  him 
most  savagely.  They  designated  the  song  by  a  very  opprobrious 
title,  and  commanded  him  to  recall  every  copy  that  had  been  sold 
and  destroy  the  entire  edition.  So  thoroughly  were  the  order.- 
carried  out  that  no  copy  has  been  found  and  the  iniquity  of  the 
offensive  verses  was  for  more  than  three  centuries  a  hidden  mys- 
tery. 

Some  thirteen  or  fourteen  years  ago  the  belongings  of  a  de- 
ceased teacher  in  Dundee  were  disposed  of  by  auction.  A  bundl: 
of  loose  leaves  and  pamphlets  were  sold  for  eight  pence.  When 
examined  there  was  found  part  of  a  copy  of  Wedderburn's  "Bal- 
lade-" L5673  which  included  the  obnoxious  poem  of  "Welcome 
Fortune."  It  proved  to  lie  a  meekly  sentimental  love  song  in 
which  the  name  of  God  is  respectfully  mentioned.  We  can  only 
wonder  at  the  severe  language  of  the  Assembly  censors  and  the 
vigor  with  which  they  enforced  their  ordinance. 


THE  SCOTTISH  PSALTER. 

ii. 
by  robert  shiells,  esq.,  neenah,  wis. 

The  Psalter  of  1549  gave  the  contents  of  the  Psalms  in 
rhyme,  just  as  our  Bibles  give  the  epitome  of  each  chapter  in 
prose.    Take  the  "Argument"  of  the  first  Psalm  as  a  specimen : 

"How  happy  be  the  righteous  man, 
This  Psalm  declareth  plain, 
And  how  the  ways  of  wicked  men 
Be  damnable  and  vain." 

The  next  important  edition  after  Bassandyne's  came  from 
Henry  Charteris.  It  contained  "The  CL  Psalms  of  David  in 
Metre;"  also  Prayers,  the  Catechism,  with  the  Doxologies  and 
Collects  suitable  for  each  Psalm.  Through  various  hands  the 
work  came  down  to  Andrew  Hart,  and  after  his  death,  in  1621, 
was  continued  by  his  heirs.  It  has  been  stated  that  Hart  merely 
printed  and  did  not  publish  the  Psalter.  The  objection  is  not 
well  taken.  In  his  time  the  business  of  literature  in  Scotland 
was  too  limited  to  admit  of  modern  suddivisions.  When  con- 
sulting with  his  dear  friend,  James  Melville,  as  to  the  issue  of 
a  new  edition,  Melville  expressed  his  surprise  that  "The  Song  of 
Moses"  had  not  yet  been  added  to  the  standard  hymns.  Hart 
caught  readily  at  the  idea,  and  urged  Melville  to  undertake  the 
task.  He  accordingly  versified  the  32nd  chapter  of  Deuter- 
onomy, which  appeared  in  the  edition  of  1615  (the  year  after 
Melville's  death),  "never  before  this  time  in  print."  One  who 
was  merely  a  printer  would  not  have  initiated  such  a  step.  This 
edition  of  1615  is  the  one  which  first  contained  the  twelve  com- 
mon tunes  whose  semi-sacred  celebrity  has  scarcely  yet  disap- 
peared. 

In  1601  a  Psalter  "for  the  use  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland"  was 
printed  at  Dort,  Holland.  The  expenses  of  this  publication  were 
borne  jointly  by  Andrew  Hart  and  the  heirs  of  Henry  Charteris. 
Hart  also  received  from  government  permission  to  import  for- 


90  "IVISCONSIN  PRESBYTERIAX  REVIEW. 


eign  books  free  of  duty.  It  is  plain  that  he  united  in  his  own  per- 
son the  now  distinct  callings  of  printer,  publisher  and  bookseller. 
In  1610  he  brought  out  a  large  Bible  which  was  the  second  stand- 
ard edition  printed  in  Scotland. 

In  1628  the  heirs  printed  a  New  Testament,  which  was  the 
first  instalment  of  our  present  authorized  version  in  Scotland. 
Hart  and  his  heirs  continued  to  produce  Psalters,  with  more  or 
less  alterations,  till  their  work  culminated  in  the  important  edi- 
tion of  1635,  which  Dr.  Neill  Livingston  has  chosen  for  his 
model  and  reprinted  in  splendid  shape.  It  contains  the  Psalms 
in  prose  and  verse,  twelve  pieces  (most  of  them  have  been  al- 
ready named),  which  may  be  styled  Paraphrases  and  Hymns,  the 
Song  of  Moses  in  six  parts,  closing  with  a  not  very  poetical 
"Spiritual  Song"  which  begins : 

"What  better  health  than  a  contented  mind  ? 
What  poverty  so  great  as  want  of  grace?" 

The  doxologies  were  reduced  to  three.  Take  the  following 
as  a  sample: 

"Glory  to  the  Father,  to  the  Son, 
And  to  the  Holy  Ghost; 
As  it  was  in  the  beginning, 
Is  now,  and  aye  shall  last." 

The  twelve  common  tunes  were  increased  to  thirty-one. 
Other  changes  in  the  music  were  introduced  of  which  I  am  not 
competent  to  speak.  The  Collects,  or  Prayers,  appropriate  for 
each  Psalm,  were  discarded.  These  prayers  are  expressed  in 
very  pure  Scotch,  and  were  long  supposed  to  be  the  composition 
of  our  early  Eeformers.  Xew  light  has  lately  risen  upon  them. 
Ten  years  ago  when  ransacking  the  valuable  and  long-forgotten 
library  of  Innerpeffray,  Perthshire,  Dr.  Bannerman  stumbled  on 
a  French  Psalter  of  Marot  and  Beza,  1567,  which  contained  a 
"Prayer  at  the  end  of  each  Psalm  by  M.  Marlorat,"  one  of  the 
most  eminent  theologians  of  his  day.  After  due  examination  the 
Scottish  Collects  proved  to  be  free  translations  of  the  French 
divine's  Oraisons.  With  Blight  variations  the  Psalter  of  1635 
continued  to  be  the  standard  book  of  praise  accepted  by  the  Scot- 


THE  SCOTTISH  PSALTER.  91 

tish  Church  till  the  present  version  was  adopted  in  1650.  Even 
Melville's  wooden  rhyme  of  the  Song  of  Moses  was  retained  to 
the  last.  I  believe  it  has  not  since  been  included  in  any  Hymnal, 
and  it  is  not  now  likely  to  find  itself  in  such  a  place. 

During  all  these  years  music  was  not  wholly  forgotten.  I 
find  constant  mention  made  of  Song  Schools  and  Music  Schools, 
and  provision  is  made  for  the  opening  of  such  seminaries  and  the 
payment  of  teachers.  The  music  is  ordered  to  be  "simple." 
Chanting  is  abolished.  "The  playing  at  the  Organs"  is  set  down 
as  a  "foolish  vanity."  Each  syllable  of  the  Psalm  was  to  have 
its  own  note  so  that  words  would  be  plainly  uttered,  and  music 
and  speech  go  hand  in  hand,  and  thus  "the  sentence  of  the  hymn 
may  be  perceived  and  understood,"  and  also  "that  it  may  be  sung 
distinctly  and  devoutly."  It  would  not  be  at  all  amiss  if  some 
of  these  directions  were  followed  in  the  present  day.  Purity  is 
strongly  insisted  on  for  the  psalter  music.  There  are  to  be  no 
flippant  grace  notes  to  tickle  the  ear,  no  straining  after  the  upper 
regions  of  operatic  airs.  The  tunes  are  to  be  simple  and  severe 
like  the  words  to  which  they  are  adapted.  At  the  same  time  there 
was  soon  developed  a  tendency  towards  something  more  ornate. 
In  1635  Hart  gave  eight  special  tunes  "in  Keports."  This  term 
is  defined  as  describing  "a  short  fugal  passage."  Dr.  Livingston 
said,  "One  instance  only  of  a  line  twice  repeated  occurs  in  one 
of  the  tunes  to  the  Spiritual  Songs."  As  these  tunes  are  not 
given  in  his  reprint  I  am  unable  to  state  which  one  it  is.  Dr. 
Livingston  thinks  that  these  instances  are  among  the  first  fruits 
of  the  attempts  then  being  made  to  introduce  Episcopal  fashions 
in  the  Scottish  Church. 

The  leading  editions  of  the  early  Psalters,  and  even  the  versi- 
fied psalms  bound  in  with  the  old  Bibles  were  all  furnished  with 
tunes.  Very  quaint  and  odd  they  seem  to  us  with  the  "Trebla, 
Contra,  Tenor  and  Bassus"  duly  set  forth  with  their  bolt-headed 
notes.  Hart's  Psalter  of  1635  (so  often  referred  to)  is  a  monu- 
ment of  industry  and  precision  in  this  respect.  In  spite  of  all 
the  pains  thus  taken  to  promote  an  interest  in  music,  the  troub- 
lous times  were  such  that  music  kept  on  decaying  till  it  was  al- 
most lost  sight  of.  The  sermons  continued  to  set  forth  duties 
and   doctrines.    The  prayers   were   direct   and   personal.     The 


92  WISCONSIN  PRESBYTERIAN  REVIEW. 

psalms  were  vigorous  and  appropriate,  though  the  measures  were 
unpolished. 

"Let  God  arise,  and  scattered 
Let  all  his  en'mies  be," 

was  one  of  the  heart-stirring  battle  hymns  of  those  days.  When 
Claverhouse  swept  down  on  the  little  band  of  worshippers  at 
Drumclog  he  was  defiantly  met  with — 

"In  Judah's  land  God  is  well  known, 
His  name's  in  Israel  great." 

The  poetry  might  be  rude,  and  the  tune  might  be  either  com- 
mon or  proper,  but  the  expressed  trust  and  confidence  were  per- 
fect. The  words,  that  had  been  sung  when  the  army  of  Senna- 
cherib had  withered  like  the  autumn  leaves  of  the  forest,  rang 
out  with  telling  effect  on  the  Scottish  moor. 

The  troubled  condition  of  the  country  and  the  conflicts  be- 
tween church  and  state  may  have  caused  the  laity  to  lose  sight 
of  what  they  looked  upon  as  the  ornamental  part  of  worship.  At 
the  same  time,  Synod  and  Assembly  were  steadily  striving  for 
the  improvement  of  the  words  of  psalmody.  Committees  were 
appointed  to  urge  forward  the  work.  Those  who  had  special 
gifts  in  that  direction  were  encouraged  to  continue  their  "tra- 
vail." The  result  of  these  labors  will  fall  to  be  noticed  in  the 
next  paper. 


SPENCER'S  ATTITUDE.  145 

lamb — that  would  welcome  equally  the  awful  abyss  of  annihila- 
tion or  the  glorious  welcome  to  the  Home  of  the  heart,  Heaven. 
Surely  Religion  has  sterner  stuff  than  that  in  it,  for  in  the  hour 
of  dissolution  it  plants  in  the  soul  a  deathless  hope  and  girts  it 
with  the  immortal  Youth  of  Heaven. 

Profoundly  admiring  the  genius,  the  grace  of  style,  the 
breadth  of  scholarship,  and  the  monumental  achievements  of 
Professor  Huxley  we  feel  just  as  keenly  the  one  great  defect  that 
marred  his  whole  life  and  herculean  efforts — the  negative  atti- 
tude of  soul,  his  agnosticism.  The  believing  soul  only  can  at- 
tain the  highest  end  of  life :  as  Professor  Blackie  says — "the  man 
who  will  succeed  must  seek,  and  he  must  see,  and  he  must  strike, 
and  above  all  things  he  must  believe.  Nature  does  nothing  for 
doubters/'  Two  great  realms  press  themselves  upon  every  soul : 
one  appealing  to  the  senses  constituting  the  Material  World  and 
man  giving  all  heed  to  them  becomes  a  superb  animal.  The 
other  appealing  to  the  hunger  and  thirst  of  one's  spiritual  nature 
embodying  God,  Truth,  Right,  Redemption,  the  Life  Everlast- 
ing, man  drinking  them  in  grows  up  into  regal  Manhood,  clos- 
ing his  heart  against  them  and  he  becomes  a  blighted,  blasted, 
atrophied  thing  of  the  Universe.  In  the  words  of  the  Shakes- 
peare of  German}' — "All  epochs  wherein  Belief  prevails,  are 
splendid,  heart-elevating,  fruitful  for  contemporaries  and  pos- 
terity. 

Seek,  knock,  ask  with  a  great,  passionate,  uncontrollable, 
longing  and  all  the  wealth  of  God's  truth,  righteousness,  peace 
and  love  shall  burst  on  our  souls. 


THE  SCOTTISH  PSALTER. 

BY  ROBERT  SHIELLS,  ESQ.,  NEENAH,  WIS. 
NO.  III. 

In  the  annals  of  Scottish  history  no  king  has  ever  foisted 
himself  into  undeserved  prominence  on  such  flimsy  grounds  as 
James  VI.  of  Scotland  and  I.  of  England.  At  the  death  of 
Elizabeth  the  accident  of  a  slender  relationship  united  the  two 
countries  under  his  rule.  I  will  not  enlarge  on  his  abilities  and 
characteristics  more  than  his  connection  with  my  subject  re- 
quires. A  matchless  teacher  and  a  retentive  memory  combined 
to  give  him  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  learned  languages. 
Of  his  real  knowledge  and  his  literary  taste  the  less  said  the  bet- 
ter. His  vanity  was  boundless.  He  delighted  to  be  hailed  as  "the 
Second  Solomon."  It  was  his  great  ambition  to  be  looked  up  to 
as  the  indisputable  authority  on  every  subject  pertaining  to 
classic  literature.  The  servile  adulation  of  the  bishops  and  cour- 
tiers of  those  days  swelled  his  conceit  at  the  time,  and  has  suc- 
ceeded in  perpetuating  his  false  prominence  down  to  our  own 
day.  Most  of  us  have  heard  of  the  Sabbath  school  scholar  who 
had  passed  a  very  poor  examination  on  biblical  facts.  When  he 
was  asked  "who  is  the  first  King  mentioned  in  the  Bible  ?"  he  an- 
swered triumphantly,  "King  James  VI.  of  Scotland." 

The  address  to  "The  Most  High  and  Mighty  Prince  James" 
still  stands  as  the  preface  to  our  Authorized  Version.  It  is  so 
slavish  and  fulsome  that  I  fancy  there  are  few  people  who  man- 
age to  read  it  through  at  the  first  effort.  The  translation  itself 
is  generally  spoken  of  as  "King  James'  Version."  The  truth  is 
King  James  had  almost  nothing  to  do  with  it.  He  neither  con- 
tributed time,  money  nor  learning.  A  few  words  of  approval  at 
the  outset  and  some  impertinent  interference  concerning  pas- 
sages reflecting  on  kingly  rights  comprise  all  the  help  he  gave. 
Though  I  could  enlarge  on  this  subject  I  must  not  forsake  the 
Psalter. 

Among  his  other  accomplishments  James  wrote  miserable 
rerse,  and  prided  himself  on  his  poetic  abilities.    Knowing  that 

148 


THE  SCOTTISH  PSALTER.  147 

the  General  Assembly  desired  a  smoother  and  more  correct  ren- 
dering of  the  Psalms,  he  addressed  himself  to  the  task.  He  soon 
found  it  was  too  laborious.  He  laid  the  burden  on  more  capable 
shoulders  and  appropriated  the  name  and  fame  of  the  work.  He 
drudged  through  thirty-one  Psalms,  not  in  consecutive  order. 

He  then  turned  the  labor  over  to  his  friend  and  courtier,  Sir 
William  Alexander  of  Menstrie,  a  poetaster  of  rather  more  than 
local  celebrity.  The  King's  MS.,  in  his  own  handwriting,  is  pre- 
served in  the  British  Museum.  Sir  William  Alexander  did  not 
incorporate  the  King's  translation  with  his  own.  As  James  died 
before  the  new  version  was  published  the  royal  feelings  were  not 
hurt  by  the  omission. 

As  samples  familiar  to  us  all  I  give  from  each  rhymster  the 
first  verse  of  the  first  Psalm,  slightly  changing  the  spelling. 
King  James'  reads  as  follows : 

"That  mortal  man  most  happy  is  and  blest, 
Who  in  the  wicked's  counsels  doth  not  walk, 
Nor  yet  in  sinner's  ways  doth  stay  and  rest, 
Nor  sits  in  seats  of  scornful  men  in  talk." 
Sir  William  Alexander  has  it : 

"The  man  is  blest  who  to  walk  in 
Th'  ungodlies  counsel  hates, 
And  stands  not  in  the  sinner's  way, 
Nor  sits  in  scorners'  seats." 

Arcades  ambo.  Both  sufficiently  plain  and  as  destitute  of 
poetry  as  anything  in  rhyme  can  be.  Sir  William's  version  was 
not  published  till  six  years  after  the  King's  death.  With  what 
pride  His  Majesty  would  have  read  on  the  title  page  "The 
Psalms  of  King  David,  translated  by  King  James."  The  picto- 
rial illustration  shows  David  with  his  harp  and  James  with  his 
sceptre,  and  the  two  sovereigns  reading  from  the  same  book.  The 
Bishop  of  Lincoln,  preaching  from  James'  funeral  sermon,  glori- 
fies him  thus :  "Besides  his  prose,  he  made  a  verse  also  when  he 
pleased,  and  (as  became  Buchanan's  best  scholar)  of  a  most 
dainty  and  elaborate  composition."  He  proceeds  to  dilate  on  his 
translation  of  the  Psalms,  which  was  interrupted  by  his  being 
"called  to  sing  Psalms  with  the  Angels." 


148  WISCONSIN  PRESBYTERIAN  REVIEW. 

James'  son  and  successor,  Charles  L,  endorsed  the  transpar- 
ent falsehood,  and  wrote  to  the  Primate  of  St.  Andrews  that  it 
had  "pleased  our  late  dear  father,  of  famous  and  eternal  memory, 
to  translate  the  Psalms  of  new."  Soon  afterwards  he  issued  an 
authorized  edition  of  "This  Translation  of  the  Psalms  whereof 
our  late  dear  Father  was  Author."  He  then  endeavored,  by  de- 
crees and  proclamations,  to  supercede  the  old  Psalter  and  force 
the  new  version  on  the  Church  of  Scotland.  This  produced  a 
tempest  little  inferior  to  the  incident  of  Jenny  Geddes  and  the 
liturgy,  which  happened  the  year  after  the  King's  last  Psalm- 
book  ordinance.  A  determined  opposition  was  roused  from  one 
end  of  the  country  to  the  other. 

A  leading  minister  (now  believed  to  be  Eev.  David  Calder- 
wood)  issued  a  widely-read  set  of  "Reasons  against  the  Reception 
of  King  James'  Metaphrase  of  the  Psalms."  His  utterances  dif- 
fered greatly  from  the  sickening  adulation  of  the  English  bishop. 
He  strongly  called  attention  to  the  'Tiarsh  and  thrawn  phrases, 
new  coined  and  court  terms,  poetical  conceits,  and  heathenish 
liberty  which  occurred  in  the  new  metre,  and  served  to  make  peo- 
ple glaik." 

These  uncourtly  criticisms  were  insisted  on  at  length,  and 
did  not  tend  to  gain  a  favorable  reception  for  the  spurious  Psal- 
ter by  the  people  at  large.  It  was  utterly  rejected,  and  few 
copies  of  the  work  are  now  in  existence.  The  rebellious  excite- 
ment caused  by  the  King's  Psalms  and  liturgy  never  subsided  till 
the  monarch's  head  was  laid  on  the  block.  Meantime,  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  was  steadily  encouraging  the  production  of  a  new 
version  which  would  combine  smoother  metre  and  a  closer  fidelity 
to  the  original  Hebrew. 

Sir  William  Mure  of  Rowallan  gave  ten  years  of  labor  to  a 
complete  set  of  Psalms  which  does  not  seem  to  have  ever  emerged 
from  the  manuscript  state,  though  it  was  highly  commended  by 
the  divines  of  that  day  and  held  up  as  a  model  for  others  who 
were  working  in  the  same  direction.  William  Barton,  an  Eng- 
lish scholar  of  Oxford,  completed  a  version  which  attracted  much 
attention,  and  was  "printed  by  order  of  Parliament"  in  1645.  I 
cm  not  find  that  it  commanded  much  attention  in  Scotland,  or 
wag  ever  used  there.    The  oexl  prominent  laborer  in  the  field  was 


THE  SCOTTISH  PSALTER.  149 

the  Eev.  Zachary  Boyd  of  Glasgow.  He  exhibited  a  distressing 
amount  of  perseverance,  and  seems  to  have  been  desirous  of  ver- 
sifying not  only  the  Psalms,  but  the  entire  Bible.  He  is  too  im- 
portant to  be  dismissed  in  a  few  sentences.  I  reserve  him  for 
the  next  article. 


A  PRESBYTERIAN  LITURGY. 

BY  THE  REV.  LOUIS  P.  PEEKE,  FOND  DU  LAC,  WIS. 

A  little  thought  and  some  experience  at  the  services  of  Pres- 
byterian churches  in  various  parts  of  the  country  would  convince 
an  impartial  observer  that  Dr.  Watson  has  not  given  the  subject 
of  liturgies  more  prominence  than  it  deserved.  Our  present  cus- 
tom is  hap-hazard  and  an  orderly  practice  we  have  not.  The 
"unnecessary  burden"  of  today  is  all  upon  the  Minister,  and  the 
People  have  nothing  to  do  but  sit  back  and  cogitate  favorable 
and  unfavorable  criticisms  upon  the  one  who  leads  their  devo- 
tions. The  present  day  movement  is  not  toward  the  acceptance 
of  the  "Book  of  Common  Prayer"  our  Presbyterian  ancestors 
were  willing  to  adopt  in  1661,  but  for  a  free  liturgy  that  would 
be  "an  orderly  mean  between  the  two  extremes  of  too  much 
strictness  and  too  much  license  as  to  the  particular  form  of  di- 
vine worship." 

Our  Directory  for  Worship  gives  general  directions  but  we 
have  no  rites  or  ceremonies  except  as  the  caprice  or  good  or  bad 
taste  of  individual  ministers  may  establish.  A  rite  is  a  formal 
act  or  series  of  acts  of  religion  established  by  law,  precept  or 
custom.  Our  custom  is  not  regularly  established ;  and  to  appre- 
ciate how  varied  it  is,  one  need  only  attend  successive  meetings 
of  Presbytery  and  Synod  where  in  the  administration  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  every  irregularity  conceivable  is  revealed.  Some 
ministers  proceed  according  to  an  order  it  would  be  misleading 
to  call  carefully  prepared  and  thought  out;  others  are  content 
to  use  Herrick  Johnson's  "Forms,"  while  still  others  adhere  to 
the  liturgy  of  other  evangelical  churches,  with  and  without  modi- 
fications. 

The  establishment  of  a  sanctioned  liturgy  cannot  seriously 
be  considered  as  a  return  by  our  Church  to  "a  discarded  and  re- 
pudiated ritualism  which  it  has  long  since  outgrown." 

For  ritual  must  have  in  it  a  symbolic  re-enactment  of  the 
great  tragedy  of  the  Cross.  Ritual  centers  everything  in  the 
representation  of  sacrifice.  Whatever  He  disapproved  He  very 
promptly  denounced.    And  we  are  with  Him  in  denunciation  of 

150 


ASSAULT  UPON  THE  BIBLE.  257 


And,  so,  your  Christianity  drops  down  into  moral  philoso- 
phy. And  your  morality  goes  to  pieces,  except  as  morality  is  an 
instinct,  except  as  virtue  happens  to  be  an  appetite. 

Ah,  my  friends,  that  is  Christianity  after  you  have  discarded 
the  Bible;  in  the  hands  of  the  modern  disciples  of  the  Destruc- 
tive Criticism !  I  tell  you  that,  in  the  interests  of  morality,  in 
the  interests  of  the  home,  in  the  interests  of  trade,  in  the  inter- 
ests of  civil  liberty,  in  the  interests  of  all  that  is  best  in  this  life, 
and  all  that  is  bright  with  hope  in  respect  to  the  life  to 
come;  we  must  keep  our  old  fashioned  Christianity;  we  must 
rehabilitate  Paul;  we  must  get  back,  and  back,  and  back,  and 
back  to  Atoning  Blood,  or  else  we  shall  go  on  to  atheism  and 
despair. 


THE  SCOTTISH  PSALTER. 

IV. 

The  evolution  of  the  Psalter  in  the  17th  century  brings  out 
a  man,  prominent  in  his  day,  though  now  all  but  forgotten.  If 
remembered  at  all,  it  is  mostly  by  the  sneers  and  sarcasms  and 
literary  falsehoods  that  have  been  attached  to  his  name.  Zachary 
Boyd  was  minister  of  the  Barony  Kirk,  Glasgow,  from  1623  to 
1653,  a  stormy  and  eventful  period  of  the  Church's  history.  He 
was  not  deficient  in  the  courage  of  upholding  his  conscientious 
belief,  and  he  kept  his  light  under  no  bushel.  I  do  not  find  his 
name  among  those  ministers  who  took  the  field  in  time  of  war, 
nor  among  those  foremost  in  fiery  debate.  Piety,  industry  and 
unceasing  devotion  to  his  ministerial  work  were  the  marked 
characteristics  of  his  public  life.  His  pen  was  never  idle.  His 
untiring  industry  leaves  a  painful  impression  on  any  student  of 
today  who  tries  even  to  enumerate  his  productions.  To  read 
them  would  be  a  physical  impossibility.  His  prose  works  are 
vigorously  evangelical  and  well  fitted  to  take  high  rank  with  the 
theological  literature  of  his  day.  His  great  delight,  however, 
was  in  verse-making.  In  that  he  "lived,  moved,  and  had  his  be- 
ing." Unfortunately,  he  was  far  from  excelling  therein,  though 
his  compositions  show  frequent  flashes  of  poetic,  and  even  dra- 
matic, fire. 

By  the  cursory  reader  the  poetry  of  250  years  ago  (even  at 
its  best)  is  readily  pushed  aside  as  rude,  stilted,  and  unworthy 
of  attention.  When,  as  in  Zachary  Boyd's  case,  the  proverbial 
two  grains  of  wheat  have  to  be  winnowed  out  of  the  two  bushels 
of  chaff  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  dust  of  ages  has  settled  un- 
disturbed on  his  poetical  works.  Besides,  he  has  been  derided 
and  burlesqued  in  every  possible  way.  His  oddities  have  been 
held  up  to  ridicule,  and  his  quaint  expressions  have  been  broadly 
caricatured.  Rhymes  that  he  never  even  imagined  have  been 
laid  to  his  name.  He  has  been  the  by-word  and  laughing-stock 
for  the  small  wits  <>F  more  than  two  centuries.  One  great  sinner 
in  this  respect  is  a  certain  Samuel  Colvil,  who,  in  1681,  pub- 

258 


THE  SCO  TTISH  PSAL  TER.  259 


lished  an  imitation  of  Butler's  Hudibras,  "The  Whigg's  Supli- 
cation,  or  the  Scotch  Hudibras."  The  extracts  from  it  that  have 
come  in  my  way  are  the  coarse  parodies  and  inventions  usually 
attributed  to  Boyd.  Pennant,  in  his  "Tour  in  Scotland,"  1772, 
visited  Glasgow,  saw  Boyd's  dust-covered  manuscripts  in  the 
university  library,  had  the  usual  fling  at  him  for  "adapting  his 
verse  to  the  intellects  of  his  hearers,"  and  quoted  as  a  "sufficient 
specimen  of  his  gross  imagery"  the  story  of  Jonah  and  the  whale. 

So  persistently  have  contempt  and  obloquy  been  heaped  on 
the  good  minister's  memory  that  his  true  character  is  only  re- 
vealed to  those  who  search  for  it.  My  own  early  impressions  of 
him  were,  that  he  was  a  crack-brained  enthusiast,  who  considered 
himself  a  gifted  poet.  With  untiring  though  misapplied  indus- 
try he  had  turned  the  whole  Bible  into  verse.  The  greater  part 
of  his  version  was  utter  nonsense,  and  much  of  it  unfit  for  the 
ordinary  reader.  He  was  so  convinced  of  its  literary  excellence 
that  he  bequeathed  a  large  sum  of  money  to  the  University  of 
Glasgow,  with  the  stipulation  that  the  Senatus  should  print  his 
MSS.,  which,  together  with  his  library,  he  included  in  his  be- 
quest. The  college  authorities  complied  wth  the  letter,  though 
not  with  the  spirit,  of  his  will  by  printing  the  extraordinary 
Bible  and  forbearing  to  publish  it.  The  printed  sheets  were 
kept  in  the  college  library  under  lock  and  key,  and  only  shown 
to  the  very  privileged  among  the  curious. 

In  all  this  there  is  merely  sufficient  truth  to  make  the  story 
hang  together.  He  did  not  versify  the  entire  Bible.  His  "Zion's 
Flowers"  and  kindred  productions  are  versifications  of  some  of 
the  most  striking  biblical  events,  and  are  commonly  spoken  of  as 
Zachary  Boyd's  Bible.  He  was  a  munificent  benefactor  to  the 
college  of  which  he  was  rector  more  than  once,  and  of  which  he 
was  Vice-Chancellor  when  he  died.  He  endowed  its  Divinity 
School  with  three  bursaries,  which  are  still  bestowed  on  deserv- 
ing students,  those  of  the  name  of  Boyd  having  the  preference. 
His  college  bequest  also  included  his  library  and  manuscripts. 
There  are  no  stipulations  about  printing  or  publishing,  and  the 
University  has  not  shown  much  gratitude  by  the  care  it  has  be- 


260  WISCONSIN  PRESBYTERIAN  REVIEW. 


stowed  on  his  clearly  written  pages.  "How  the  world  is  given  to 
lying"  and  on  what  flimsy  grounds  even  a  good  man  can  be  tra- 
duced ! 

The  ridiculous  parodies  which  I  had  found  in  odd  corners  I 
accepted  as  genuine  quotations,  and  they  are  indelibly  stamped 
on  my  memory.  I  offer  the  introduction  to  the  Book  of  Job  as 
an  average  sample  of  these  doggerel  slanders : 

"There  was  a  man  and  his  name  was  Job, 
He  lived  in  the  land  of  Uz. 
He  had  a  wife  had  the  gift  of  the  gab, 
And  the  same  is  the  case  with  us." 

The  true  version  is  flat  and  unpoetical  enough,  "but  nothing 
to  this:" 

"In  Uz  a  man  called  Job  there  was, 
Both  perfect  and  upright: 
Who  feared  God,  and  did  eschew 
Evil  with  all  his  might." 

When  I  was  told  of  his  having  mastered  the  whole  Bible  I 
often  wondered  how  he  succeeded  with  some  of  the  genealogical 
portions.  I  do  not  now  believe  that  they  formed  any  part  of  his 
work.  As  he  subjected  the  Four  Gospels  to  his  peculiar  treat- 
ment, I  have  his  first  chapter  of  Matthew.  The  man  who  could 
turn  that  formidable  list  of  fathers  and  sons  into  any  kind  of 
verse  would  have  had  no  hesitation  in  tackling  the  first  nine 
chapters  of  I.  Chronicles. 

With  all  his  eccentricities  he  was  a  man  of  great  worth  and 
of  more  than  ordinary  talent — a  faithful  minister  of  the  Word. 
In  those  troublous  times  he  had  the  courage  of  his  convictions. 
When  Cromwell,  fresh  from  his  victory  at  Dunbar,  took  posses- 
sion of  Glasgow,  he  and  his  officers  attended  divine  service  at  the 
Cathedral.  Clergy  and  Magistrates  alike  had  deserted  the  city. 
Zachary  Boyd  alone  seems  to  have  held  his  ground  and  freed  his 
mind.     Be  had  due  notice  as  to  who  would  be  in  his  congrega- 


THE  SCOTTISH  PSALTER.  261 


tion,  and  was  warned  to  be  caTeful.  Some  accounts  say  that  he 
preached  with  his  pistols  on  the  pulpit  cushion.  Very  likely 
this  is  apochryphal,  but  his  pulpit  thunder  was  loud  enough.  A 
contemporary  graphically  relates  how  "he  railed  on  them  all  to 
their  very  face  in  the  High  Church/'  and  stigmatised  them  as 
"sectaries  and  blasphemers."  Cromwell's  secretary  "whispered 
him  for  leave  to  pistol  the  scoundrel."  The  Lord  Protector  took 
a  milder  course.  After  service  he  invited  the  preacher  to  dinner, 
and  finished  the  repast  with  a  prayer-meeting  which  lasted  till 
three  in  the  morning.  Both  parties  separated  with  an  improved 
opinion  of  each  other. 

Boyd's  unpublished  works  number  eighty-six.  Most  of  them 
are  very  lengthy,  and  the  huge  piles  of  time-stained  manuscript 
are  stored  in  his  college  library.  Nineteen  more  of  his  works 
were  published,  and  are  all  very  rare. 

Through  this  long  narrative  I  may  seem  to  have  lost  sight 
of  the  Psalter.  I  was  brought  face  to  face  with  a  talented  author 
who  is  little  known  except  as  he  had  been  misrepresented.  I 
could  not  resist  trying  to  photograph  the  man  who  nearly  car- 
ried off  the  palm  from  Francis  Rous,  and  whose  version  of  the 
Psalms  was  all  but  accepted  by  the  General  Assembly.  I  can- 
not determine  when  Zachary  Boyd  first  addressed  himself  to  the 
work  which  he  hoped  would  be  of  great  importance  to  the  nation 
and  form  a  permanent  part  of  the  worship  of  the  Scottish 
Church.  The  assembly  was  constantly  passing  passing  resolu- 
tions and  appointing  committees  for  the  improvement  of  the 
metrical  Psalms.  Several  of  the  poetical  aspirants  were  encour- 
aged and  thanked  by  name.  On  at  least  one  occasion  a  special 
committee  was  appointed  "to  revise  the  labours  of  Mr.  Boyd  and 
to  prepare  a  report  thereof."  The  attention  of  the  Westminster 
Assembly  was  directed  to  his  work,  and  he  himself  was  requested 
to  lay  his  "travails"  before  the  High  Court  of  the  Church  that 
they  might  be  referred  to  the  Presbyteries  for  examination  and 
approval.  He  must  have  been  subjected  to  great  trouble  and 
expense  by  these  requirements.  He  was  supported  by  many 
friends  who  thought  highly  of  his  Psalter.     It  was  doubtless  a 


262  WISCONSIN  PRESBYTERIAN  REVIEW. 


serious  disappointment  to  him  and  to  them  when  the  present 
version  was  adopted.  Like  many  a  faithful  and  hopeful  worker 
in  similar  circumstances,  he  was  set  aside  with  well-sugared 
words  and  a  vote  of  thanks. 

The  third  edition  of  his  "Psalms  of  David  in  Metre"  was 
published  at  Glasgow  in  1646.  I  cannot  find  that  the  book  was 
ever  again  printed.  Eous's  version  is  often  spoken  of  as  being 
plain  and  prosaic.  What  I  have  seen  of  Boyd's  is  still  more  so. 
There  are  occasional  touches  of  poetic  sweetness,  but  he  lacks  the 
strength  and  majesty  of  Eous.  As  an  unfailing  example  take 
Boyd's  opening  of  the  first  Psalm: 

"Blest  is  the  man  that  walks  not  in 
The  ungodlie's  counsel  ill; 
Xor  stands  in  ways  of  sinners,  nor 
In  scorners'  seats  sits  still/' 

His  beginning  of  the  twenty-third  Psalm  may  afford  a  still 
more  familiar  comparison : 

"The  Lord's  my  shepherd,  I'll  not  want, 
He  makes  me  by  good  will 
Lie  in  green  pastures,  he  me  leads 
Beside  the  water  still." 

His  great  defect  appears  to  have  been  that  he  was  willing  to 
sacrifice  rhyme,  rhythm,  measure,  everything  that  is  usually  un- 
derstood to  make  up  poetry,  if  he  could  only  stick  close  to  the 
sense  and  give  a  literal  rendering  of  the  original.  With  all  due 
respect  for  the  much  abused,  though  really  talented,  Zachary 
Boyd,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  General  Assembly 
showed  good  taste  and  judgment  when  it  passed  Eous's  Psalter 
through  the  refining  crucible  and  then  adopted  it  as  the  standard 
of  praise  service  in  the  Kirk  of  Scotland.  This  will  have  atten- 
tion in  the  next  paper  of  this  series. 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  PEW.  335 


his  evenings  in  the  working  out  of  the  problems  of  church- 
finance,  honestly,  faithfully  and  splendidly  administering  the 
affairs  of  the  congregation  without  reward  or  pay  and  often  with- 
out recognition — who  can  do  him  justice  save  the  Great  Master 
of  us  all  who  shall  award  a  fitting  due  to  every  toiler  in  His 
service?  Disinterested,  unremitting  in  their  watchfulness  the 
men  in  the  pew  are  our  shield,  warding  off  the  stinging  arrows 
of  cruel  thoughtlessness  and  guarding  us  that  we  may  engage 
the  enemy  at  closer  quarters.  How  much  we  owe  to  the  un- 
flinching support  and  approval  of  the  man  in  the  pew,  of  whose 
cordial  endorsement  we  are  assured  when  we  embark  upon  haz- 
ardous enterprises.  Alas  for  us  when  we  resolve  the  man  in  the 
pew  into  the  stuffed  puppet  whose  function  is  conceived  to  be 
simply  filling  a  seat  in  the  church  service.  We  fall  on  evil  days 
when  the  man  in  the  pew  becomes  to  us  nothing  less  than  a 
shadowy  outline,  instead  of  a  loyal  friend,  helpful  fellow-worker 
and  co-partner  in  the  grandest  undertakings  possible  to  mortal 
beings.  Let  our  achievements  and  the  indissoluble  friendships 
which  bind  us  to  him  proclaim  our  deep  appreciation  of  and  love 
for  the  man  in  the  pew. 

From  so  faulty  an  expression  of  the  worth  of  the  man  in  the 
pew  we  turn  to  the  better  memorialist  who  has  discerned  the 
hidden  goodness  unnoticed  by  the  world  and  in  strains  worthy 
of  his  theme  sings  the  praises  of  him  "whose  delight  is  in  the  law 
of  the  Lord  and  on  His  word  doth  meditate  dav  and  nisrht." 


THE  SCOTTISH  PSALTER. 
v. 

BY  ROBERT  SHIELLS,  ESQ.,  XEEXAH,  WIS. 

The  last  versions  of  the  Psalter  which  I  have  mentioned  were 
so  nearly  contemporary  that  it  may  be  best  to  recall  them  with 
their  dates.  In  bringing  forward  the  version  which  was  chosen, 
and  which  has  kept  its  place  for  almost  250  years,  it  is  well  to 
remember  that  it  was  wrought  out  side  by  side  with  its  rivals. 
Sir  William  Mure  is  generally  spoken  of,  more  Scottice,  by  the 
name  of  his  landed  estate,  and  his  translation  is  usually  called 
"Kowallan's  Psalms."  He  gave  ten  years  of  diligence  to  the 
work,  and  completed  it  in  July,  1639.  It  never  emerged  from 
the  manuscript,  though  it  was  often  quoted  and  referred  to  by 
the  Westminster  divines.  Dr.  Eobert  Baillie,  the  leader  of  the 
Scotch  Commissioners,  wrote  to  his  friends  in  Scotland  (16-44). 
"I  wish  I  had  Rowallan's  Psalter  here,  for  I  like  it  better  than 
any  I  have  yet  seen."  As  a  specimen  I  quote  from  the  well- 
known  CXXII  Psalm— 

"I  joyed,  when  to  the  house  of  God 
We'll  go,  to  me  they  said. 
Jerusalem,  within  thy  gates 
Our  feet  thy  courts  shall  tread. 

Thou  built  art,  0  Jerusalem, 
As  comely  cities  be, 
Whose  parts  compactly  all  contriv'd 
Together  do  agree. 

Francis  Rous  next  claims  attention.  He  was  a  native  of 
Cornwall,  a  member  of  the  Long  Parliament,  a  lay  Commis- 
sioner to  the  Westminster  Assembly,  Provost  of  Eton  College, 
and  a  member  of  Cromwell's  Privy  Council.  Certainly  his  posi- 
tions gave  him  every  possible  advantage.  His  first  version  of 
the  Psalter  was  published  at  London  in  1641.  It  was  received 
with  qualified   approbation  by  the  Assembly  in  Scotland,  and 

336 


THE  SCOTTISH  PSALTER  337 


opportunity  for  improvement  was  freely  pointed  out.    The  open- 
ing verses  of  the  XIX  Psalm  will  indicate  its  quality — 

The  glory  of  Almighty  God 
The  heavens  do  speak  and  show. 
The  firmament  his  handiwork 
Presenteth  to  our  view. 

Day  unto  day  doth  speak  and  tell 
His  wisdom  and  his  might; 
And  a  true  knowledge  of  the  same 
Night  showeth  unto  night. 

In  April,  1643,  with  the  approval  and  order  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  Eous'  second  edition  was  printed  with  many  cor- 
rections and  alterations.  It  was  closely  examined  and  warmly 
endorsed  by  the  Parliament,  and,  later  on,  by  the  Westminster 
Assembly,  though  the  stamp  of  ultimate  acceptance  was  not 
placed  upon  it.  I  return  to  the  first  Psalm  for  a  sample  of  its 
merits — 

The  man  is  blessed,  that  to  walk 

In  wicked  ways  doth  fear; 

And  stands  not  in  the  sinner's  path 

Nor  sits  in  scorner's  chair. 

But  in  the  perfect  law  of  God 
He  greatly  doth  delight; 
And  on  that  law  doth  meditate 
With  pleasure,  day  and  night. 

At  this  time  William  Barton,  a  distinguished  Oxford  scholar, 
came  forward  as  an  aspirant  for  the  honors  of  the  Psalter.  His 
first  edition  appeared  in  1644,  and,  by  order  of  Parliament,  a 
second  edition  followed  in  1645,  "much  augmented  and  amended 
with  the  cream  and  flowers  of  the  best  authors,  and  with  the 
approbation  of  more  than  forty  eminent  divines  of  the  city." 
The  rivalry  between  Barton  and  Eous  was  sharp  and  prolonged. 


338  WISCONSIN  PRESBYTERIAN  REVIEW. 


Both  of  them  had  influential  friends  and  used  them  freely.  The 
House  of  Lords  interfered  on  Barton's  behalf,  and  in  October, 
1645,  commanded  the  Westminster  Assembly  to  report  on  his 
work.  The  Divines  made  a  lengthy  reply.  The  purport  in  brief 
was,  that  Mr.  Barton's  version  was  very  good  indeed,  but  that 
of  Mr.  Eous,  especially  since  it  had  been  examined  and  amended 
by  the  Scottish  Assembly,  was  still  better.  This  decision  was 
not  quite  acceptable  to  the  Lords  Temporal.  In  March,  1646, 
they  requested  the  Divines  to  state  why  Barton's  Psalms  should 
not  be  sung  in  churches,  if  the  congregations  chose  to  use  them. 
The  Assembly  answered,  respectfully  and  firmly,  that  they  still 
gave  the  superiority  to  Bous — and  that  if  Barton  received  even 
a  qualified  sanction  and  congregations  were  allowed  to  adopt  his 
Psalter,  if  they  preferred,  it  would  open  the  door  for  other  trans- 
lators and  nothing  but  confusion  could  be  expected  to  follow. 
Barton  was  very  persevering  and  published  several  editions. 
That  of  1654  is  "ordered  by  his  Highness  the  Lord  Protector 
and  the  Council." 

Before  this  time  (in  1649)  the  present  version  had  received 
the  seal  of  authority  and  was  ordained  to  be  used  by  the  entire 
Church.  Barton  afterwards  claimed  that  the  Scots  had  put 
forth  a  Psalm-book,  compounded  of  his  version  and  that  of  Mr. 
Rous,  "but  it  did  not  give  full  satisfaction."  His  work  con- 
tinued to  be  reprinted  as  late  as  1768.  It  seems  never  to  have 
found  a  footing  in  Scotland.  In  his  edition  of  1644  the  opening 
of  Psalm  XIX  reads  as  follows : 


The  heavens  give  to  understand 
The  glory  of  the  Lord. 
The  operations  of  his  hand 
The  firmaments  record. 


Night  unto  night  hath  knowledge  Bhown 
And  day  with  day  conferred; 
Ami  speech  or  language  there  is  none 
Where  their  voice  is  not  heard. 


THE  SCOTTISH  PSALTER  339 


While  these  bickerings  were  being  continued  in  England  my 
old  friend  Zachary  Boyd  had  come  to  the  front  in  the  northern 
kingdom.  I  have  already  dealt  with  him  so  fully  that  little 
more  needs  to  be  said.  His  friends  and  admirers  were  mostly 
in  the  Scottish  Church.  They  warmly  recommended  him  to  the 
Westminster  Assembly.  Even  Dr.  Baillie  failed  to  support  him 
there,  and  I  cannot  find  that  he  received  much  attention.  He 
bore  his  disappointment  manfully.  In  the  preface  to  his  last 
edition  (1648)  he  says,  "I  desire  that  no  man  esteem  that,  in  a 
mercenary  way,  I  am  seeking  gain  by  those  my  labors,  though 
the  work  hath  been  both  painful  and  chargeable.  I,  with  a  most 
willing  mind,  offer  all  in  a  free  will  offering  to  the  Lord.  As  T 
have  hitherto  done,  I  submit  in  all  humility  to  the  judgment  of 
my  brethren  in  the  ministry."  About  a  month  after  this  Mr. 
Boyd  showed  the  fullness  of  his  submission  by  actively  serving 
on  a  committee  for  perfecting  Mr.  Sous'  Psalter,  the  early  stages 
of  which  I  have  already  noted.  Rous'  fellow  members  of  Parlia- 
ment believed  him  to  be  eminently  fitted  as  a  scholar  and  a  poet 
for  this  task.  He  began  his  versification  at  their  request,  and 
published  his  earliest  set  of  Psalms  in  1641. 

When  the  Westminster  Assembly  first  met  in  July,  1643, 
Rous  appears  as  one  of  the  Commissioners.  The  Parliament  and 
the  Divines  at  once  united  in  urging  him  to  persevere  in  his 
labors.  The  result  was  his  edition  in  April,  1646,  printed  by 
authority  and  ordained  "to  be  sung  in  all  churches  and  chapels 
within  the  kingdom  of  England,  Dominion  of  Wales,  and  Town 
of  Berwick-on-Tweed." 

By  the  terms  of  this  act  it  will  be  observed  that  the  Scottish 
Commissioners  were  not  yet  fully  satisfied.  If  the  beginning  of 
the  first  Psalm,  as  it  stands  in  this  edition,  is  compared  with  the 
finally  authorized  version  marked  differences  are  at  once  appar- 
ent. 

The  man  is  blest  that  in  th'  advice 
Of  those  that  wicked  are 
Walks  not,  nor  stands  in  sinner's  path, 
Nor  sits  in  scorner's  chair. 


340  WISCONSIN  PRESBYTERIAN  REVIEW. 


But  in  God's  law  delights,  oil's  law 
Both  day  and  night  doth  think; 
He  shall  be  like  unto  a  tree, 
Set  by  the  river's  brink. 

It  will  be  readily  seen  that  changes  many  and  great  were 
carried  out  by  the  Presbyteries  and  General  Assembly,  and  their 
effective  committees  before  the  Psalter  was  ultimately  cast  in  its 
present  mould.  It  will  also  be  plainly  manifest  that  the  ordi- 
narily accepted  title  of  "Eous'  Psalms"  has  little  foundation  in 
fact. 


RELATION  OF  CHURCH  TO  CREED.  Ill 


ing.  But  blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart  for  they  shall  see  God. 
Character  and  faith  are  interdependent;  and  the  faith  whose 
root  is  sound  grows  to  strength  and  fruitfulness  by  increased 
knowledge  of  Christ  and  of  His  work.  There  are  truths  which 
the  human  mind  can  reach,  and  on  which  it  can  certainly  rest. 
You  inherit  great  traditions — traditions  of  earnest  and  serious 
search  for  truth — may  it  be  yours  to  hand  down  to  your  succes- 
sors, and  within  these  walls  traditions  still  more  inspiring. 


112         WISCONSIN  PRESBYTERIAN  REVIEW. 


THE  SCOTTISH  PSALTER. 

NO.   VI. 
BY  ROBERT   SHIELLS,   ESQ.,   NEENAH,   WIS. 

In  framing  and  arranging  a  uniform  Directory  of  Public 
Worship  the  matter  of  psalm-singing  was  only  taken  up  by  the 
Westminster  Divines,  when  the  revision  of  the  work  was  in  its 
last  stages.  The  English  Commissioners  especially  seem  to 
have  adopted  the  principle  of  the  old  Book  of  Discipline.  They 
considered  the  use  of  the  Psalms  and  congregational  singing  as 
"a  profitable  but  not  necessary  act  of  worship." 

I  have  already  noted  how  the  paramount  desire  for  unifor- 
mity in  all  things  and  the  persistent  labours  of  the  versifiers — 
or  translators,  as  they  were  more  generally  and  correctly  styled — 
had  carried  the  psalmody  question  over  the  critical  stages.  The 
resolution  of  Parliament  April  15th,  1646,  ordered  "that  the 
Book  of  Psalms  set  forth  by  Mr.  Eous,  and  none  others,  shall, 
after  the  first  day  of  January  next,"  be  sung  in  all  English 
churches.  As  soon  as  the  work  issued  from  the  press  the  Scottish 
Commissioners  forwarded  copies  of  it  to  the  General  Assembly 
at  Edinburgh.  A  general  approval  was  accorded  to  the  book, 
though  there  was  an  evident  reaching  out  for  something  still 
better.  Space  will  not  permit  me  to  follow  in  detail  the  pro- 
cesses to  which  it  was  subjected.  Committees  and  sub-com- 
mittees were  appointed.  All  ministers  who  were  supposed  to 
possess  poetic  gifts  were  pressed  into  the  service.  The  Psalms 
were  divided  into  groups  and  allotted  to  special  individuals. 
They  were  repeatedly  passed  from  the  Assembly  to  the  Pres- 
byteries and  back  again.  Uniformity  of  praise  was  the  great 
desideratum.  Smoothness  of  metre  and  expression  were  under- 
stood to  be  of  due  importance.  Above  all,  "poetical  liberty  and 
sweet,  pleasant  running"  must  be  subordinated  to  a  close  ad- 
herence to  the  original  Hebrew. 


THE  SCOTTISH  PSALTER.  113 


The  style  and  diction,  which  in  the  seventeenth  century  was 
accounted  elegant  and  refined,  does  not  greatly  command  the 
admiration  of  the  present  day.  The  Psalms  as  finally  amended 
contained  forced  rhymes  and  measures  and  many  Scotticisms.  In 
two  instances  the  "world  commandment"  has  to  take  in  an 
extra  syllable  and  is  lengthened  out  to  "com-mand-e-ment."  The 
terminal  "tion"  has  frequently  to  be  sung  in  two  syallables. 
Notwithstanding  these  blemishes,  if  the  metrical  Psalms  are 
compared  verse  by  verse  with  the  prose  translation,  they  will  be 
found  to  read  almost  verbatim  with  it.  Scholars  assure  us  that 
they  are  equally  faithful  to  the  original  language.  Sir  Walter 
Scott's  verdict  on  the  work  is  a  clear  and  explicit  statement  of 
the  case.  "The  expression  of  the  old  metrical  translation, 
though  homely,  is  plain,  forcible  and  intelligible,  and  very  often 
possesses  a  rude  sort  of  majesty  which  perhaps  would  be  ill- 
changed  for  mere  elegance."  The  words  which  still  stand  on 
the  title-page  of  the  Scottish  Psalter  give  the  best  description 
of  the  work  that  was  accomplished:  "THE  PSALMS  OF 
DAVID  in  Metre.  Translated  and  dilligently  compared  with 
THE  ORIGINAL  TEXT  and  Former  Translations.  More 
plain,  smooth  and  agreeable  to  the  Text  than  any  heretofore." 

On  January  18th,  1650,  the  work  was  formally  accepted.  All 
other  versions  were  "discharged"  and  forbidden.  The  Psalms 
as  we  now  have  them,  with  here  and  there  a  few  changes  to 
modern  forms  of  spelling,  were  "Allowed  by  the  Authority  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland,  and  appointed  to 
be  sung  in  Congregations  and  Families"  on  and  after  the  first 
day  of  May,  1650.  The  deliverance  brought  rejoicing  and  sat- 
isfaction to  all  who  had  been  concerned  in  the  enterprise.  The 
prophetical  words  of  Dr.  Baillie  (one  of  the  Westminster  Com- 
missioners) have  been  literally  fulfilled:  "These  lines  are  likely 
to  go  up  to  God  from  many  millions  of  tongues  for  many  genera- 
tions." 

The  dominant  spirit  of  the  Westminster  Assembly  of  Di- 
vines was  a  desire  for  uniformity,  not  only  in  the  fundamentals 
of  religion,  but  also  in  church  government  and  church  worship 
in  all  the  details  thereto  pertaining.     It  is  common  to  speak  of 


114         WISCONSIN  PRESBYTERIAN  REVIEW. 


the  bigotry  of  the  Scotch  in  these  matters  and  their  desire  to  for- 
cibly fit  every  one  to  lie  in  their  Procrustean  bed.  The  reverse 
of  this  is  actually  the  case.  From  the  very  nature  of  things  it 
was  impossible  for  them  to  override  and  overrule  everything  in 
the  Convocation.  Of  the  174  members  only  six  were  Scotch. 
With  our  usual  national  modesty  we  are  apt  to  insinuate  that 
these  six  men  were  like  the  leaven  which  was  "hid  in  three  meas- 
ures of  meal  till  the  whole  was  leavened."  At  the  same  time,  as 
regards  non-essential  points,  there  was  much  yielding  on  both 
sides.  To  insure  uniformity  in  the  praise  service  the  Scotch 
members  gave  up  several  items  which  seem  trivial  to  us.  Tn 
those  days  they  appeared  so  important  as  to  raise  a  clamour  of 
"innovations" — that  dreadful  word  which  has  so  often  wrought 
disturbance  and  division  in  our  national  church.  Strangely 
enough,  customs  which  are  now  spoken  of  as  Scotch  whims  and 
freaks,  and  held  up  to  ridicule  as  marks  of  the  unreasonableness 
and  absurdity  of  our  northern  nation,  are  the  very  things  which 
were  forced  upon  us  by  our  Southern  associates.  It  is  still  more 
strange,  that  while  their  introduction  at  that  time  threatened  to 
disrupt  the  Scottish  Church,  their  discontinuance  in  our  own 
day  met  determined  opposition.  By  long  use  and  wont  the  prac- 
tices had  become  so  thoroughly  interwoven  with  our  ecclesiasti- 
cal system  that  they  were  clung  to  with  the  same  tenacity  which 
had  nearly  excluded  them  at  the  first. 

The  two  principal  "novations"  in  connection  with  the 
Psalmody  which  were  accepted  by  the  Scottish  Church  for  the 
sake  of  unifomity  were  the  reading  of  the  Psalm  line  by  line 
when  it  was  being  sung,  and  the  disuse  of  the  "conclusions"  to 
the  Psalms.  In  other  words,  setting  aside  the  Doxologies.  The 
reading  of  the  line  was  strongly  opposed  by  the  Scottish  Com- 
missioners. They  finally  yielded  it  as  involving  no  principle. 
They  excused  themselves  to  their  own  Assembly  on  the  plea  that 
it  seemed  necessary  for  the  English  congregations  as  so  many 
of  the  people  could  not  read  and  the  others  were  poorly  supplied 
with  psalms-books.  They  succeeded  in  modifying  the  rule  as 
given  in  the  Directory  by  inserting  the  saving  clauses,  "for  the 


TEE  SCOTTISH  PSALTER.  115 


present,  when  many  in  the  congregations  cannot  read/'  and  "it 
is  convenient." 

The  disuse  of  the  Doxology  was  a  more  serious  affair,  and 
produced  a  keen  contest.  It  had  formed  part  of  the  praise  ser- 
vice almost  from  the  dawn  of  the  Reformation.'  The  Fathers 
and  the  early  Councils  were  quoted  to  show  that  some  such  form 
had  come  down  from  the  time  of  the  Apostles.  "Moderator," 
said  Calderwood,  the  historian,  "I  entreat  that  the  Doxology  be 
not  laid  aside,  for  I  hope  to  sing  it  in  heaven."  Dr.  Baillie 
pleaded  for  it  with  all  the  eloquence  of  his  tongue  and  pen.  The 
English  Puritans  persisted  in  classing  it  with  the  prelatical  and 
"nocent"  (hurtful)  practices.  For  the  sake  of  peace  and  uni- 
formity the  others  unwillingly  yielded,  desirous  thereby  of  "edi- 
fying one  another  in  love." 

In  modern  times,  when  the  two  customs  came  to  be  revived  in 
Scotland,  they  were  bitterly  declaimed  against  as  defections  and 
backslidings — as  returning  to  the  bondage  of  Egypt — and  as  a 
removing  of  the  ancient  land  marks  of  the  fathers;  always  an 
unsafe  thing  to  attempt.  I  can  remembers  (while  I  was  a  boy) 
staid,  elderly  people  gravely  shaking  their  heads  and  speaking 
of  St.  George's  Church,  Edinburgh,  as  a  backdoor  leading  to 
Eome,  because  the  congregation  sometimes  sang  a  doxology,  and 
actually  stood  up  to  do  it!  In  the  village  church  I  attended 
for  some  years  I  saw  the  battle  of  the  "read  line"  and  the  "run 
line"  fought  out  to  the  end.  People  rushed  out  of  the  church, 
showing  every  possible  mark  of  contempt  and  disgust.  I  have 
in  my  mind's  eye  a  perfect  picture  of  an  old  countryman,  who 
sat  well  to  the  front,  a  strong-built,  broad-shouldered  man,  with 
a  shining  bald  head,  and  clad  in  a  blue,  homespun  gabardine. 
He  endured  the  first  two  lines  of  the  Psalm.  When  the  third 
line  showed  the  criminal  intent  of  the  precentor  John  sprang 
to  his  feet,  slapped  his  broad  blue  bonnet  onto  his  head,  crushed 
his  way  out  of  the  pew,  and  went  clamping  down  the  aisle,  mak- 
ing all  possible  noise  with  his  tacketty  shoes  and  iron-shod  pike- 
staff. He  slammed  the  door  behind  him  with  vigorous  con- 
tempt, and  never  crossed  its  threshold  again.  There  were  sev- 
eral such  rebels,  most  of  whom,  after  a  while,  yielded  to  neces- 


116         WISCONSIN  PRESBYTERIAN  REVIEW. 


sity  and  returned  to  their  places  in  church.  Some  of  them  man- 
ifested their  consistency  by  never  again  opening  their  psalm- 
books,  nor  joining  in  the  praises  of  the  sanctuary.  For  all  that 
I  believe  they  were  true  Christian  people. 


JOHN  CRAIG.  159 

upon  another  of  that  goodly  band,  the  man  who  was  once  a  Domin- 
ican monk  and  afterward  thrice  the  Moderator  of  the  Presbyterian 
General  Assembly. 


160        WISCONSIN  PRESBYTERIAN  REVIEW. 


THE  SCOTTISH  PSALTER. 

BY   ROBERT   SHIELLS,   ESQ.,   NEENAH,  WIS. 
VII. 

The  Act  of  the  General  Assembly,  January,  1650,  placed  the 
Scottish  Psalter  on  a  permanent  basis,  from  which  it  has  never  been 
dislodged.  Though  adjuncts  and  appendices  of  various  kinds  are 
gradually  being  attached,  it  still  remains  the  principal  part  of  the 
structure.  Many  Scottish  and  English  poets  have  since  tried  their 
skill  at  complete  or  partial  versions  of  the  Psalms.  Milton  versi- 
fied nineteen  of  them.  In  1696,  with  the  formal  consent  of  King 
William  III,  the  Psalms  of  Nicholas  Brady  and  Nathan  Tate  sup- 
planted the  time-honored  version  of  Sternhold  and  Hopkins  in  the 
Episcopal  Church.  On  the  part  of  the  Non-conformists  Dr.  Isaac 
Watts  published  his  somewhat  free  translation  in  1719. 

On  May  24th,  1787,  "the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadel- 
phia allowed  Dr.  Watts'  'Imitation  of  David's  Psalms,'  as  re- 
vised by  Mr.  Barlow,  to  be  sung  in  the  Churches  and  Families 
under  their  care."  With  this  sanction  they  were  published  in  New 
Brunswick  in  1789,  and  thus  obtained  a  footing  in  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church  of  the  United  States,  which  they  have  never  lost. 

I  have  forty-two  different  renderings  of  the  favorite  XXIII. 
Psalm,  the  dates  ranging  from  1542  to  1743.  Several  of  them  are 
from  versifiers  who  have  published  "A  New  Version  of  the  Whole 
Book  of  Psalms."  Their  names  and  their  works  are  alike  all  but 
forgotten.  I  think  the  Marquis  of  Lome  is  the  latest  candidate 
for  fame  in  this  field.  His  version  did  not  seem  to  attract  much 
attention.  He  has  further  been  distinguishing  himself  by  compos- 
ing a  hymn  which  was  sung  at  the  dedication  of  the  Queen's  High- 
land Church  at  Crathie. 

My  ignorance  of  the  language  prevents  my  dealing  with  the 
Gaelic  renditions  of  the  Psalms.  There  are  six  of  these,  the  dates 
extending  from  1659  to  1826.  The  sixty-seven  Paraphrases  and 
five  hymns  which  are  bound  up  with  the  Psalms  in  the  Scottish 
Bibles  were  subjected  to  the  usual  course  of  correcting  and  purify- 


SCOTTISH  PSAL TER .  16! 

ing,  and  finally  approved  of  by  the  General  Assembly  in  June, 
1781.    This  was  no  new  action  on  the  part  of  that  Court. 

It  was  merely  a  recognition  and  confirmation  of  those  "spiritual 
songs"  which  had  formed  part  of  the  Psalter  poetry  from  the  be- 
ginning. While  giving  close  attention  to  the  present  version  of  the 
Psalms  they  were  by  no  means  forgetful  of  those  Biblical  hymns 
which  had  always  formed  part  of  the  praises  of  the  sanctuary.  In 
August,  1647,  a  resolution  was  passed  " recommending  that  Mr. 
Zachary  Boyd  be  at  the  pains  to  translate  the  other  Scriptural 
songs."  I  find  I  was  in  error  when  I  stated  that  his  third  edition 
(1646)  was  his  last.  In  obedience  to  his  superiors  Mr.  Boyd  pub- 
lished, in  1648,  an  elaborate  edition  of  "The  Psalms  of  David  in 
Metre:  With  the  Prose  Interlined,"  and  "Seventeen  of  the  Songs 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  in  Metre."  From  that  date  on- 
ward to  the  conclusion  of  the  work,  in  1781,  the  Assembly  did  not 
cease  to  expedite  the  preparation  of  the  additional  hymns,  or  Para- 
phrases, which  are  now  in  use.  Though  these  really  form  part  of 
the  Church  Psalter,  to  follow  their  history  in  detail  would  form  a 
special  subject  in  itself. 

I  have  now  sketched  the  Scottish  Psalter  from  its  inception  to 
its  acceptance  by  the  General  Assembly,  by  the  people  of  Scotland, 
and  also  by  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Ireland.  The  hypercritic 
may  sneer  at  its  rough  rhymes  and  its  old-fashioned  expressions. 
The  casual  observer,  trained  in  the  present  school  of  hymnology, 
readily  prefers  the  smoother  melody  of  the  modern  verse.  I  do  not 
wish  to  disparage  the  religious  excellence  of  many  of  the  hymns  of 
to-day,  but  our  hymn-books  would  bear  much  winnowing.  A  de- 
votional heart  will  pour  out  in  verse  as  well  as  in  prose.  It  will 
find  vent  in  the  words  of  praise  as  well  as  in  the  supplications  and 
confessions  of  prayer.  If  Rous  frequently  sacrifices  sound  for 
sense  our  hymn-writers  more  often  prefer  the  sweetness  of  sound  to 
the  vigor  of  sense.  Giving  all  praise  to  the  beautiful  stanzas  which 
have  become  imbedded  in  our  deepest  feelings,  there  are  many  milk 
and  water  verses  plentifully  scattered  in  our  "Collections."  The 
very  looseness  with  which  the  name  of  God  is  handled  strikes  un- 
pleasantly on  ears  that  have  been  accustomed  to  hear  it  mentioned 
with  awe  and  honor.  The  frequent  and  flippant  use  of  such  phrases 
as  "Dear  Christ"  and  "Sweet  Jesus"  in  public  praise  sounds  dis- 
respectful and  irreverent.    In  the  inspired  words  of  the  Psalter  we 


162        WISCONSIN  PRESBYTERIAN  REVIEW. 

find  no  such  weaknesses.    There  all  is  might  and  majesty,  mingled 
with  loving  kindness  and  tender  mercy. 

At  the  same  time  I  acknowledge  that  the  inevitable  is  fast  ap- 
proaching. It  will  not  be  very  many  years  till  Rous'  Psalms  will 
stand  on  the  same  shelf  with  Chaucer  and  Sir  David  Lyndsay.  All 
the  branches  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland  use  Hymnals 
of  their  own  in  conjunction  with  the  Psalms.  I  believe  they  are 
now  endeavoring  to  compile  a  book  which  will  be  satisfactory  to 
the  different  divisions.  The  hymns  are  in  general  use  except  in  the 
Highlands,  where  the  national  grip  has  not  greatly  relaxed.  I  do 
not  know  how  it  is  in  the  Colonies  at  large.  I  find  that  Canada 
has  fallen  into  the  advanced  line.  Spending  a  Sabbath  in  a  Cana- 
dian city,  I  asked  particularly  for  the  most  old-fashioned  church, 
hoping  to  get  a  full  set  of  the  Psalms.  I  only  got  one,  and  it  was 
a  good  one — 

"Jerusalem,  as  a  city  is 
Compactly  built  together; 
Unto  that  place  the  tribes  go  up, 
The  tribes  of  God  go  thither; 
To  Israel's  testimony,  there 
To  God's  name  thanks  to  pay." 

I  joined  in  the  singing  as  best  I  could,  and  thought  of  my  native 
city.  Let  me  say  here  that  from  this  and  many  parallel  passages 
in  the  Psalms  I  always  feel  as  if,  in  some  prophetical  way,  King 
David  must  have  been  a  kind  of  a  Scotsman,  and  an  Edinburgh 
man  at  that ;  he  described  its  peculiarities  exactly. 

From  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  our  own  country  the  Psalms 
have  entirely  disappeared.  There  are  two  of  them  that  keep  their 
place  in  every  collection  I  have  examined — the  XXIII.  and  the 
C.  Psalms.  Of  course,  I  think  that  the  Hymns  which  have  replaced 
them  are  the  best  of  their  class.  The  smaller  branches — the  United 
Presbyterian  and  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Churches — still  heed 
the  injunction,  "Stand  ye  in  the  ways,  and  see,  and  ask  for  the  old 
paths,  where  is  the  good,  and  walk  therein."  Even  in  their  case 
the  first-named  body  shows  signs  of  weakening.  While  holding 
to  the  words  of  inspiration  the  members  admit  the  possibility  of 
poetical  improvement.     Versifying  committees  have  been  at  work, 


SCO  TTISH  PSAL  TER.  1 63 

and  new  versions,  more  or  less  complete,  have  been  printed.  The 
congregations  do  not  take  kindly  to  them,  though  some  of  the 
Psalms  are  said  to  be  of  great  power  and  sweetness.  In  the  hearts 
of  the  people  "the  old  is  better."  I  met  a  good  old  lady  from  Penn- 
sylvania whom  stress  of  circumstances  had  carried  into  the  larger 
Presbyterian  Church.  Her  face  shone  and  her  eye  glistened  as  she 
told  me  how  she  used  to  sing  the  real  Psalms  of  David  "to  the 
twelve  old  tunes  that  the  Lord  made  in  Ireland." 


164         WISCONSIN  PRESBYTERIAN  REVIEW, 


SERMON. 

BY  THE  REV.  JACOB  PATCH,  STEVENS  POINT,  WIS. 

Lately  preached  and  dictated  from  memory  by  Mr.  Potce  in  his  91st  year. 

Heb.  7:  25. — "Able  to  save  to  the  uttermost." 

I  would  like  it  better  to  say,  "It  is  possible  for  Him  to  save." 
For  God  does  not  lack  power,  in  the  sense  of  strength,  to  do  what 
He  will.  But  His  character,  or  attributes,  show  it  is  impossible 
for  Him  to  do  some  things  that  man  can  but  with  difficulty  keep 
from  doing.  God  cannot  lie:  the  Bible  says  so.  If  we  keep  in 
mind  the  Holiness  and  wisdom  of  God  it  will  be  less  difficult  for 
us  to  understand  His  word.  If  it  says  He  repented,  or  is  angry 
with  the  wicked,  it  must  signify  such  feelings  as  a  holy  God  must 
have  under  the  circumstances.  He  cannot  manifest  indifference 
to  sin,  because  He  is  holy,  and  His  manifest  abhorence  to  sin  must 
in  some  way  be  commensurate  with  the  greatness  of  the  sin.  A 
judge  who  would  pronounce  no  punishment  upon  a  murderer,  or 
would  fine  him  but  one  dollar,  would  show  that  he  did  not  regard 
murder  as  being  very  wicked. 

But  could  the  infinite  God  devise  some  way  in  which  He  could 
save  a  sinner;  in  which  He  could  be  just  and  the  justifier  of  him 
that  believeth?  We  may  reason  on  this  question  but  do  not  put 
the  result  of  fallible,  human  reason  on  a  level  with  the  teachings 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

Before  the  earth  was  made  God  had  shown  the  angels  His 
power  and  wisdom  in  creating  the  myriads  ot  the  starry  worlds, 
and  in  connection  with  each  He  may  have  revealed  some  new  facts 
about  Himself.  But  power  and  wisdom  would  awaken  awe. 
Then  His  justice  may  have  been  manifested  by  casting  out  rebel 
angels  from  heaven.  This  may  have  awakened  fear,  and  "fear 
hath  torment."  "But  perfect  love  casteth  out  fear."  1  John  4: 
18.  It  is  God's  nature  to  be  filled  with  delight  in  giving  joy  and 
peace  unto  His  creatures. 

But  who  are  the  angels?  Angel  is  an  office  name  rather  than 
a  generic  name — one  sent  of  God  on  some  errand  or  message — hav- 
ing personality  and   intelligence.     Our  breath  is  sent  of  God   to 


PHYSICAL  LAWS  AND  PRAYER.  263 


tenderer  than  all  is  the  protecting  Love  of   God   Himself  in 
prayer. 

To  pray  with  the  whole  soul  aflame,  with  unswerving  sub- 
mission to  the  Will  of  the  Highest,  with  invincible  faith,  with 
measureless  hope,  with  a  fervency  that  will  brook  no  denial,  is 
one  of  the  sublimest  achievements  of  the  redeemed  soul  on  the 
planet.  Prayer  is  the  mightiest  weapon,  had  we  not  ceased  to 
believe  it,  that  ever  can  be  placed  within  our  grip. 


264  WISCONSIN  PRESBYTERIAN  REVIEW. 


THE  SCOTTISH  PSALTER. 

NO.   VIII. 


BY    ROBERT    SHIELLS,    ESQ.,    XEEXAH. 

It  is  almost  as  natural  to  sing  as  it  is  to  breathe.  The  people 
that  cannot  sing,  after  some  fashion,  cannot  be  found.  Every 
diversity  of  feeling  finds  vent  in  a  union  of  verse  and  music. 
The  resounding  paean  of  victory  and  triumph,  the  wailing  coro- 
nach of  defeat  and  death,  the  sublime  anthem  of  faith  and  devo- 
tion; all  these  in  some  form  or  other  are  found  in  all  ages  and 
among  all  nations.  In  our  day  each  country  has  its  national 
anthem,  as  well  as  its  favorite  songs  that  tell  of  love  or  war,  joy 
or  sorrow.  The  Scottish  people  are  particularly  rich  in  this  class 
of  literature.  Every  shade  of  feeling,  sacred  or  secular,  every 
emotion  of  the  heart  towards  God  or  man  wells  out  in  verse,  and 
takes  the  form  of  musical  expression.  This  master  passion  has 
been  well  exemplified  in  the  extreme  care  which  was  taken  of  the 
songs  used  in  their  worship.  When  the  translation  of  the  Psalms 
was  completed  and  accepted  the  devout  portion  of  the  nation 
sought  no  further.  They  had  a  body  of  divinity  in  verse.  Every 
emotion  of  the  mind  found  its  appropriate  utterance  in  the  words 
of  inspiration  poetically  rendered.  The  language  as  well  as  the 
sentiments  became  thoroughly  engrained  in  their  "walk  and 
conversation."  Not  unfrequently  the  secular  song  caught  the 
spirit  of  the  secular  psalm.  "Oh !  why  left  I  my  home  ?"  sounds 
like  an  exact  counterpart  of  "By  Babel's  streams  we  sat  and 
wept." 

Reading  of  the  death  of  Edward  Irving  (that  grand  but 
erratic  preacher  of  the  Word)  his  friend  tells  how  the  dying  man 
had  long  lain  in  a  condition  between  stupor  and  mild  delirium. 
At  last  there  came  what  seemed  to  be  connected  sentences  in  a 
strange  tongue.  The  watcher  bent  to  listen  and  heard  the  He- 
brew measure  of  the  &3d  Psalm.  In  many  thousands  of  eases 
these   t'.w    Bimple   words,  "The  Lord's  my   Shepherd,    I'll   not 


SCOTTISH  PSALTER.  265 


want,"  have  given  strength  and  hope  to  the  living  and  comfort 
and  confidence  to  the  dying.  It  is  merely  what  is  to  be  expected 
that  those  who  may  be  called  the  primitive  Presbyterians  should 
cling  tenaciously  to  "the  form  of  sound  words"  in  their  service 
of  praise. 

Brought  up  as  I  was  in  the  Auld  Licht  Kirk,  under  the 
shadow  of  two  of  its  last  great  apostles,  Dr.  Wylie  and  Dr. 
M'Crie,  it  is  natural  that  my  sympathies  should  strongly  incline 
to  most  of  the  old  practices.  In  this  country  I  have  often  made 
friends  in  the  United  Presbyterian  and  the  Reformed  Presby- 
terian branches  of  the  church.  While  I  do  not  follow  in  the  cus- 
toms with  which  I  am  so  familiar  I  look  upon  them  with  a  respect 
that  is  akin  to  reverence.  In  very  many  instances  their  ministers 
seem  to  be  toiling  with  obscure  congregations,  which  gradually 
diminish  in  spite  of  their  best  efforts.  To  an  outsider  the  differ- 
ences seem  faint  and  unimportant.  As  one  of  their  own  number 
expressed  it  to  me,  "it  is  sometimes  hard  to  determine  where 
principle  ends  and  obstinacy  begins." 

As  regards  their  belief  that  nothing  but  David's  Psalms 
should  be  used  in  the  services  of  religion,  they  rest  strongly  on 
"the  historic  basis." 

In  these  papers  I  have  sketched,  the  Psalter  from  its  very  be- 
ginning to  the  present  day,  and,  with  all  due  respect  for  my 
United  Presbyterian  friends,  I  cannot  see  where  such  a  historic 
basis  ever  existed.  In  the  "Ghide  and  Godlie  Ballates,"  which 
almost  preceded  the  Scottish  Reformation,  I  find  that  twenty- 
two  Psalms  have  a  place  in  an  extensive  collection  of  hymns  and 
spiritual  songs.  When  the  Whole  Book  of  Psalms  was  brought 
in  the  church  service  there  still  remained  a  fair  sprinkling  of 
spiritual  songs.  When  the  so-called  Rous7  Version  was  finally 
adopted,  though  the  Psalms  were  published  alone,  the  great 
Councils  of  the  Church  did  not  cease  their  efforts  till  they  author- 
ized a  considerable  addition  to  the  volume  of  praise,  and  the 
expansion  is  still  going  on.  I  cannot  help  believing  that  there 
are  the  best  of  precedents  for  this  course.  The  whole  Biblical 
history  is  freely  interspersed  with  the  poetry  of  praise.  From 
the  foundation  of  the  world,  "when  the  morning  stars  sang  to- 
gether, and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy,"  down  to  the 


266  WISCONSIN  PRESBYTERIAN  REVIEW. 


apocalyptic  glimpses  we  get  of  the  new  Jerusalem  where  "they 
sing  the  song  of  Moses,  the  servant  of  God,  and  the  Song  of  the 
Lamb,"  praise  is  never  lost  sight  of.  In  many  cases,  both  in  the 
Old  and  the  New  Testaments,  the  very  words  of  the  songs  are 
given,  so  that  they  might  be  employed  in  like  circumstances. 
These  were  some  of  the  hymns  which  the  early  church  selected 
and  used  in  its  services.  The  triumphal  song  of  Miriam  when 
the  Egyptians  were  destroyed,  the  songs  of  Moses,  of  Deborah,  of 
Hannah.  From  the  gospel  narratives  were  taken  the  song  of 
Mar}',  "My  soul  doth  magnify  the  Lord,"  the  songs  of  Zacharias 
and  of  Simeon.  All  those  and  many  others  were  included  in  the 
praise-worship  of  the  church  of  our  fathers. 

I  repeat  it,  that,  with  all  deference,  and  meaning  no  dis- 
respect to  the  opinions  of  others,  I  can  find  no  support  in  the 
Scottish  Psalter,  nor  in  the  practices  of  the  Scottish  church,  for 
"the  historic  basis"  which  excludes  all  utterances  of  praise  except 
the  Psalms  of  David.  I  have  written  these  papers  with  no 
thought  of  controversy  in  my  mind.  I  merely  intended  to  bring 
out  a  somewhat  neglected  chapter  of  Scottish  church  history, 
and  I  wish  I  could  think  of  them  as  having  been  as  interesting 
for  others  to  read  as  they  have  been  for  me  to  write. 

Though  not  strictly  relating  to  the  history  of  the  Psalter,  a 
variation  reading  has  crept  into  the  100th  Psalm  which  I  wish 
to  notice  as  I  close.  The  version  we  have  from  William  Kethe 
has  kept  its  place  from  the  early  time  of  the  Genevan  Psalter  to 
the  present  day.  It  is  so  easy  and  simple,  and  yet  so  full  of  the 
natural  majesty  of  praise,  that  any  collection  of  church  hymns 
would  appear  incomplete  without  it. 

"All  people  that  on  earth  do  dwell, 
Sing  to  the  Lord  with  cheerful  voice, 
Him  serve  with  mirth,  his  praise  forth  it'll. 
Come  ye  before  him  and  rejoice." 

The  peculiarity  I  wish  to  call  attention  to  is  in  the  third  line. 
II  seems  thai  Kethe  wrote  the  words,  "Him  serve  with  few." 
Dr.^ Livingston  gives  il  SO  in  his  reprint  of  1635.  I  have  a  black 
letter  copy  of  the  Psalms  printed  by  John  Day  of  London,  L581, 


SCOTTISH  PSALTEE.  267 


which  has  the  same  reading.  I  have  a  Cambridge  prayer-book  of 
1791  which  repeats  the  sentence.  The  oldest  copy  of  the  Scotch 
Psalms  I  possess  is  from  Edinburgh,  1799,  and  reads  "Him  serve 
with  mirth."  As  far  as  my  scholarship  goes  I  shonld  say  this  is 
the  proper  rendering  of  Colite  Jehovan  cum  Laetitia — "Worship 
the  Lord  with  gladness."  The  change  seems  to  have  been  made 
by  the  General  Assembly  revisers  of  1650,  and  is  a  strong  proof 
of  their  exact  learning  and  good  taste.  There  is  still  another 
mooted  point  in  this  Psalm.  In  the  next  verse  all  the  copies 
which  I  have  read  as  follows : 

"We  are  his  flock,  he  doth  ns  feed, 
And  for  his  sheep  he  doth  ns  take." 

It  must  be  acknowledged  that  there  is  a  slight  sound  of  repe- 
tit  ion  in  this.  It  is  so  printed  in  my  Day's  Psalter  of  1581.  I 
have  seen  it  stated  that  in  his  edition  of  1578  it  stands,  "We  are 
his  folke,"  or  in  some  of  his  issues,  "We  are  his  folcke,"  both 
forms  of  the  word  being  correct  specimens  of  sixteenth  century 
spelling.  It  is  claimed  that  this  is  the  original  rendering,  and 
that  the  change  to  "flock"  is  simply  a  printer's  error  which  has 
sunk  deep  and  taken  root.  I  do  not  try  to  decide  the  question. 
I  merely  mention  the  fact  as  a  literary  curiosity.  If  it  is  the 
work  of  the  intelligent  compositor,  it  would  be  well  if  all  his 
mistakes  resulted  in  such  excellent  sense. 


268 


WISCONSIN  PRESBYTERIAN  REVIEW. 


CONSTITUTIONAL     ELEMENTS     OF     PSYCHOLOGY 
PERTAINING  TO  COMPLETE  CULTURE. 


BY   PROF.    A.    PICKETT,   ASHTABULA,    OHIO. 


Section  1— Part  8.* 
nature's  control  and  its  culture  in  human  life. 

Action  seems  an  ever-present  fact  in  all  substantial  exist- 
ence and  a  closely  allied  element  to  life  itself.  Action  is  deemed 
to  be  the  result  of  force;  but  force  alone  is  blind,  and  hence 
were  force  let  loose  in  substance  uncontrolled  substance  would 
clash  with  substance  ever  in  chaotic  confusion. 

The  smallest  atom  must  have  a  relational,  and,  in  truth,  a 
rational  motion  in  reference  to  all  other  atoms,  and  also  the 
great  orbs  of  the  starry  heavens  must  move  in  their  cycles  under 
law,  or  sphere  will  clash  with  sphere  in  perpetual  disaster.  Thus, 
throughout  the  limitless  mineral  kingdom  of  material  substance 
the  control  of  law  is  the  harmony  of  the  heavens. 

Turning  now  to  the  next  higher  kingdom,  the  vegetable 
world  the  realm  of  initial  life,  rule  is  more  constant,  more 
critical ;  law  in  more  definite  demand  and  the  violation  of  law  a 
more  significant  disaster. 

In  the  next  higher  or  animal  kingdom  both  activities  and 
laws  of  control  are  still  more  critical  and  complex  and  violation 
still  more  significant  in  disaster. 

In  the  lower  kingdoms,  mineral  and  vegetable,  there  is  no 
freedom,  the  control  of  activities  is  wholly  under  natural  law  and 
therefore  their  spheres  of  existence  are  necessarily  complete  in 
destiny. 

In  the  lower  animal  kingdom  the  next  higher  grade  of  being, 
the  control  of  action  is  divided  between  the  natural  endowments 
of  instinct,  law  and  a  low  grade  of  volition  in  intelligence.  There 
appear  no  concepts  of  Divinity  or  of  the  higher  Law  of  equity  in 

Extract  from  a  book  soon  to  be  issued. 


